Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Healthcare, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.33%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.33%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.92%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 1.25% or 0.94 points to trade at 75.93 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 0.63% or 0.62 points to end at 99.00 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was up 0.62% or 0.93 points to 151.99 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 2.80% or 1.61 points to trade at 55.89 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 2.28% or 2.22 points to end at 95.33 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) shed 1.74% or 1.36 points to 76.99.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which rose 7.51% to 11.31, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was up 6.24% to settle at 4.510 and Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) which gained 4.86% to close at 29.34.
The worst performers were Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which was down 4.07% to 86.73 in late trade, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which lost 3.36% to settle at 354.21 and Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ:LLTC) which was down 3.25% to 46.15 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ceres Inc (NASDAQ:CERE) which rose 72.93% to 0.3813, Globeimmune (NASDAQ:GBIM) which was up 60.98% to settle at 3.300 and Neovasc Inc (NASDAQ:NVCN) which gained 49.39% to close at 0.765.
The worst performers were Epirus Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EPRS) which was down 18.43% to 0.416 in late trade, Innocoll AG (NASDAQ:INNL) which lost 18.37% to settle at 6.00 and Glycomimetc (NASDAQ:GLYC) which was down 16.69% to 6.14 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1942 to 1364 and 21 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1475 fell and 1086 advanced, while 64 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.52% to 19.27.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.23% or 3.00 to $1301.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 4.11% or 1.90 to hit $48.11 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 4.41% or 2.08 to trade at $49.27 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.47% to 1.1279, while USD/JPY fell 0.10% to 104.17.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.51% at 94.29.